Triple-Garlic Pizza

Or, the whole of the pie is greater than the sum of its alliums.

We visited the last monthly winter market this weekend to find the very first sign of Spring — wild garlic — at Nina’s booth. She’s my go-to source for fresh eggs and local honey, but she always has some lagniappe I appreciate — last year it was callaloo and micro greens and last month, freshly smoked jalapenos. But as soon as I saw this month’s wild garlic offering, I knew it was destined for spring’s perfect pizza. You can keep your ramps; I’ll stick to locally-grown wild garlic for $1 a bunch! (Sadly, we don’t have any growing in our yard or it’d be even cheaper.)

Since I’m pathologically incapable of making anything the same way twice, I subbed in a gluten-free crust and added layers of flavor with garlic oil and garlic confit. Frankly, I wouldn’t know where to draw the “too much garlic” line, but this wasn’t even close. On this pie, at least, it’s all mellow and sweet and borderline addictive.

Garlic confit, like creme fraiche and sofrito, is one of those things that’s nice to have on hand to add a little something to a dish. Whole cloves are slow-cooked in olive oil until they’re soft and sweetly caramelized, which is nice on its own, but as a bonus you get that lovely oil to use for drizzling, dipping, salad dressings, etc.

The gluten-free pizza crust is the best I’ve yet tried, but I’m still on the lookout for something less…squeaky. (Those of you who’ve had the heavily starch-based crusts know what I mean.) Something a little breadier would be really nice in this application.

Not that I’m complaining — far from it. These toppings just deserve the very best base you can give them. I’m doing it for the garlic, you see.

recipe after the jump

Garlic Confit

You certainly can make more than this at once, but I think one head is a manageable amount for two people to use within a week. Your mileage may vary, of course.

In a small pot of boiling water, blanch the garlic cloves for 20-30 seconds, then shock them in an ice bath. Cut off the tip of each clove, slip off the peel and dry each clove. Place peeled cloves in a small baking dish with peppercorns and bay leaves, if using, then cover with olive oil by up to one inch.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until cloves are golden and very soft. Cool slightly, remove peppercorns and bay leaves, and place garlic and oil in a glass jar. Refrigerate for up to one week.

Activating the yeast. Combine warm water, olive oil, and yeast in small bowl. Stir gently. Let rest for a minute.

Making the dough. Pour yeasty water into dry ingredients. Mix at medium speed (using the dough hook attachment) for 2 minutes, until dough comes together and feels soft and pliable. Set dough aside in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour.

Preparing to bake. Preheat the oven to 550° (or as hot as your oven will allow it). If you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven now. Sprinkle a pizza tray or baking sheet with cornmeal.

Rolling out the dough. Cut the dough ball in half. Put one of the balls of dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Through the paper, roll out the dough as thin as you can make it.

Pre-baking the crust. Carefully transfer dough onto the pizza pan. Brush dough with olive oil. Bake until the dough feels firm and you can lift it off the pan and will hold its shape, about 7 minutes. (Note: I never transfer dough to a pizza pan, but instead place the dough along with the bottom sheet of parchment paper on the pan or baking stone. Once baked, the pizza lifts off with no sticking…much easier than transferring raw dough.)

Take the crust out of the oven and top it as you wish.

You can make the second crust immediately (and really, you probably will). Or, you can put it in the refrigerator and have pizza again the next day.

Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Blanch the wild garlic until they are bright green but still al dente, about 1 minute. Drain, pat dry and cut into 1-inch lengths.

Brush dough with garlic oil from the confit and pre-bake, according to instructions.

After pre-baking, spread the dough with garlic confit and sprinkle on the grated mozzarella in an even layer. Scatter the blanched wild garlic over the mozzarella and season liberally with salt and pepper. Top with the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Bake for about 8 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the pizza crust is browned and crisp on the bottom. Transfer the pizza to a work surface, cut into pieces, lightly drizzle with truffle oil or butter and serve right away.

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16 Comments

Oh that looks so goood. I can’t wait to try it, of course I’ll need to delete all the lovely cheese so that my milk allergic daughter can have some too. But I think that might work just fine-it’ll be more foccacia than pizza. (Good thing she’s not allergic to garlic.)

This looks delicious!! I made a garlic heavy asparagus and ricotta pizza last night with a cauliflower crust. I would definitely try it out! It was the PERFECT complement to the garlicky cheesiness!

I used 3/4 cup ricotta instead of 1 cup mozarella (less because it has a higher water content) and 1 tbs fresh garlic, doing away with the garlic salt. It was extraordinary. I’d love to try it again with your toppings this time!

To “Rice” the Cauliflower:
Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9″ round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

[…] after a week of gorging on asparagus, I was ready to try something new. A few years ago, I made garlic confit for a triple-garlic pizza and thought it might be an interesting way to use this green garlic. So I chopped up everything but […]